Urbanspoon sells Rez biz to OpenTable

Seattle-based Urbanspoon is selling its 3-year-old restaurant reservation service to its prime competitor, San Francisco-based OpenTable.

The companies characterized the move as a partnership under which the 2,000 or so restaurants using Urbanspoon’s Rezbook for online reservations will be shifted to OpenTable, which has more than 28,000 restaurants and a global footprint.

OpenTable’s reservation system will be extended to additional restaurants via the Urbanspoon website and apps.

“By partnering for best-in-class reservations functionality, the team is now empowered to focus on our core mission: building a uniquely fantastic consumer experience,” it said.

Restaurants using Rezbook will be able to continue under their current contracts with no price changes. OpenTable will support those contracts but won’t sign additional restaurants up for Rezbook.

Urbanspoon was founded in 2006 and took off after Apple began promoting its restaurant-finding app in its commercials, giving it a pole position in the rise of mobile apps and services catering to wired dining enthusiasts. Media giant IAC bought the startup in 2009 and later that year it developed the Rez reservation system to add more services and challenge OpenTable’s grip on online reservations. After a pilot program in Seattle, the iPad-based Rezbook business launched in May 2010.

“I think it’s a pretty mixed blessing,” said Urbanspoon co-founder Ethan Lowry, who left the company after Rezbook launched. “On one hand it’s great that they’ll have full access to all of the OpenTable reservations on Urbanspoon and just further the ability to let you use Urbanspoon.”

Brier Dudley offers a critical look at technology and business issues affecting the Northwest. Send tips or comments to bdudley@seattletimes.com. His column runs Monday, and his commentary appears here all week.